Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
You can learn little from victory. You can learn everything from defeat. — Christy Mathewson
We all know the face of painful defeat. We tried to win, but some of our ways led to disgrace and shame. We used unwise and self-indulgent methods to cope with life’s problems. Those defeats were devastating. But it’s not only bad choices and mistakes that create loss and heartache. Inevitably, adult life forces everyone to face powerlessness. That is a spiritual lesson that some of us accept more readily than others. Some guys don’t easily give up the heady feeling of power and the pride of doing things their own way, even when their own way brings repeated defeat.
With only victories, we might stay stuck as superficial boys for the rest of our lives. What would push us to learn? From the broken pieces of painful events, we are forced to learn something new. We can no longer hold on to our voracious appetites and our stubborn willfulness. We have to finally open our minds to the wisdom of others. Through our failures we are strengthened. In facing powerlessness, we truly grow from boyishness into genuine manhood.
Today, I am grateful for all that I have learned from my defeats.
Hazelden Foundation
No comments:
Post a Comment